College basketball game finally ends... after three days

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — First Joshua Linson knocked out the lights. Then he knocked out Winston-Salem State.

Linson finished what he started, breaking a 40-hour tie by hitting a go-ahead 3-pointer with 24 seconds left Friday to lead Johnson C. Smith to an 89-86 overtime win against the Rams in a bizarre game that took three days to complete.

The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association game was suspended Wednesday night when Linson’s full-court heave with 0.3 seconds remaining shattered two lights suspended from the ceiling about 20 feet above the court, leaving one dangling perilously from a wire.

The game, tied at 76, was suspended until Friday because of safety concerns.

Winston-Salem State had the option to decide the outcome by a coin flip, but instead elected to travel the 90 minutes back to Charlotte to play a five-minute overtime period, which lasted 14 minutes in real time.

Johnson C. Smith did not charge admission for the rescheduled game and about 1,000 fans showed up Friday afternoon.

They were loud right from the pregame warm-ups, setting up an intense five minutes of play.

Both coaches said they prepared as if it were a full-length, 40-minute game.

With the game tied at 84, Linton launched a 26-footer from beyond the arc. This time, it didn’t come close to hitting any of the low-lying ceiling lights.

Linson said jokingly afterward “I caused all of this.” But he said he wasn’t thinking about the broken light when he released the go-ahead shot. It was his only basket, adding to his 25 points on Wednesday night to finish with a career-high 28.

Joyner said it was fitting that Linson, a sophomore who has struggled with his shot this season, hit the one that mattered.

Joyner, also the athletic director at Johnson C. Smith, said before the game it was the right call to reschedule the game to Friday. There are 32 lights — each weighing about 70 pounds — in Brayboy Gymnasium, which was built in 1961.

“They’re heavy,” Joyner said. “Had we played and that had fallen, it would have knocked somebody out, no doubt.’’